1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,360 G'day listeners. In this podcast we talk about not positive thinking but accurate thinking with 2 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:14,880 a positive bent. We discuss a fantastic podcast that we listen to and how we can use thinking 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,640 to change our experience. Enjoy. Why did it count backwards? 4 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:24,080 We're now recording. What? Hello captain. 5 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:32,080 What do I say? Come fly with me. Let's fly, let's fly away. 6 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:39,600 What are we going to talk about? I don't know. So leadership, life and everything else. 7 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:51,280 And we're alive and feeling positive. Yes positive. Don't know like I am alive. 8 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:55,360 But we're not. We're recording. Yes. We are recording. 9 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:57,600 Hey Michelle. Hey guys. 10 00:00:57,600 --> 00:00:59,680 I want to talk about positive thinking. Yes. 11 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:04,720 I grew up with all of those books around me, The Power of Positive Thinking, Think and Grow Rich, 12 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:12,800 all of the positive thinking books from the 70s and 80s. And I read a lot of them when I was quite 13 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:18,320 young. But then I noticed there was a bit of a pushback to positive thinking over the next 14 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:26,400 couple of decades and it's starting to come back. But I had a fantastic experience the other day 15 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:32,400 where I was watching another podcast and I saw something I absolutely love and I want to share. 16 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:39,440 Yeah. So your experience is different to mine. My parents were very much positive thinkers and 17 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:47,280 pushed positivity. And so yeah, I've not noticed the decline, I suppose, in society. 18 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,000 There was a resistance. Yeah, I haven't noticed that. 19 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:51,920 You didn't notice it? No. I guess. 20 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,240 People have said to me though, almost like it's a bad thing. Oh, you're so positive, 21 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:02,080 Michelle, with a bit of a slur. But yeah. I've heard so many people push back and say 22 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:07,520 things like, oh, you're not into that positive thinking mumbo jumbo shit. I've had active push 23 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:09,360 back from people. Wow. Okay. 24 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,760 Which I find really interesting. But okay, so the experience I had, right? So I love learning, 25 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,360 as you know, and you do too. And we're always listening to experts and other people. And 26 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:23,200 one of the podcasts I listen to is the Diary of a CEO. Fantastic podcast. Shout out. 27 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:27,600 Stephen Bartlett. Stephen Bartlett. And he was interviewing 28 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:35,600 Dr. Damien Amen. I've got to say it like that. Amen. Amen. Or A-M-E-N. I don't know how he 29 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:43,040 pronounces it, but I like saying amen. But Dr. Damien, Daniel, I should say. Dr. Daniel Amen 30 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:50,720 was talking about how he was working with an author, Noelle Nelson. She was writing a book 31 00:02:50,720 --> 00:03:00,080 called, what was it? The Power of Appreciation. And she asked Dr. Daniel to scan her brain while 32 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:06,560 she was feeling positive about her brain. And the way he describes it on the podcast, he said, oh, 33 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:11,440 and when we looked at the scans, her brain was beautiful. And only a brain surgeon could describe 34 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:17,600 a brain as beautiful. But I agree. I think brains are beautiful things. Anyway, he then challenged 35 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:22,320 her and he said, well, look, I need you to come back tomorrow and hate your brain or hate yourself. 36 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:27,920 Hate yourself. Yeah. And we'll scan you again. She went, oh, no, no, no, I can't do that. I don't 37 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:33,360 do that. And he said, well, no, you've got to suffer for science. So she went back the next day, 38 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:39,040 apparently, and she was hating on her brain and hating on herself. And he scanned her brain 39 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:45,920 and then compared the positive thinking scan and then the negative thinking scan, the hating 40 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:55,440 yourself scan. And what he noticed was that in the second scan, her left temporal lobe, her left 41 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:03,280 frontal lobe and her cerebellum had all dropped. Yeah. So there was a physical change in the 42 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:11,120 structure or the alignment of parts of her brain. And when I heard that, it really, really resonated 43 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:20,240 with me because he then went on to say firstly that the deactivated brain, he called it, explains 44 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:26,240 athletic slumps. And he said that negativity turns off the cerebellum and they become just a little 45 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:32,080 less coordinated. And it immediately reminded me of what I was talking to you on the last podcast 46 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:38,720 about an experience where we were initially and I was playing like shit. And I couldn't get out of 47 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:48,960 my head and I was feeling negative and I slumped and my performance slumped. And the more I thought 48 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:55,040 about it, the worse I played. My coordination wasn't there. And I don't know, do you ever watch 49 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:01,040 The Karate Kid? Yeah. Do you remember when he put his hands together and he's like then put them 50 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:07,280 above his head, put them above his head and then he pushed him forward and then up? Do you remember? 51 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:12,880 Anyway, it was an action he did to get himself mentally into the space, right? Okay. And I 52 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:18,800 started to do that in the water. I was doing anything I could to get my coordination and get 53 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:25,680 out of my head and it just didn't work. But now after listening to that podcast, I think I may 54 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:32,080 have a reason. Is that why when you're in a funk, like in your head, in a bad mood, you stub your toe, 55 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:41,040 you trip? Maybe your coordination is shit. You lose your coordination. Which then reaffirms 56 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:46,320 and puts you further in the bad mood, which then you hit your arm or you, you know, I don't know. 57 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:53,520 Yeah, possibly. Let's start doing a study and let's get our listeners to maybe comment. Have you 58 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:58,240 ever been in a bit of a mental slump? You're feeling negative and then you start to hurt yourself more. 59 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:04,240 Yeah. Knock into things. You knock into things. Well, we both broke our toe on the same piece of 60 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:10,640 furniture last year. It's still there. It's still there. Aren't we smart? We just avoid it. We walk 61 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:17,120 around it now. We're in control of our limbs. But you know, looking back, were we feeling negative 62 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:22,640 on those days? I don't know. Well, look, I've got a theory and it could be completely wrong. So if 63 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:27,200 anyone with any scientific knowledge at all hears me and thinks you're an idiot, just like just 64 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:35,760 ignores. Why that happens to me all the time. But so my mum is a kinesiologist and so energy of the 65 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:44,960 body and she's done a lot of reading on the effects of water and hydration on the body. And water, 66 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:50,000 I've said before, is my medicine. Your go-to medicine. Yeah. So if ever I'm feeling a little low, 67 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:57,120 my eyes, I can't read properly. I can't think water is, I've either got to see it, drink it or be in 68 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:03,440 it. We have some water here right now. Do you need some? No, I'm good. But there are maybe also with 69 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:11,280 the, I'm thinking about that study that you were just mentioning about the brain changing as well. 70 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:17,040 Because we've got so much water in us, there was that study and I don't know the Japanese. Yeah, 71 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:24,240 water. And he wrote words on the glasses of water or on the petri dishes. Before he froze the water. 72 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:30,240 Yeah. And it was, and the structures of the water actually changed. Now, if we're thinking 73 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:36,160 negativity and thinking negative thoughts and hating on ourselves, the amount of hydration, 74 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:44,880 water that we have in our body, the structure's changing, then that also potentially changes 75 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:52,160 our structure as well. Which then leads to poor coordination like we're talking about. 76 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:57,920 Yeah. So sharp jagged edges rather than smooth. It's all making sense now, Michelle. I wish I'd 77 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:03,040 known this stuff when I was playing sports. I had some successes, but I had some failures as well. 78 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:07,200 And those failures were really, really frustrating because I couldn't understand why I couldn't 79 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,640 perform to the peak that I knew that I had previously performed at or I couldn't get 80 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:20,000 myself. Yeah. It was really strange that I wasn't as consistent as what I'd like to have been. And 81 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,320 I look back on when I didn't perform as well and it was all about negativity. 82 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:36,160 Yeah. So if you're at work or at home and you're in the negative, what would you suggest? 83 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:43,600 Okay. So this leads me to another quote that Dr. Daniel Amen said. Amen. Amen. I'm going to 84 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:48,000 go Amen because it just resonates, but I haven't heard him say his own name. So I'm just going to 85 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:54,720 give him my pronunciation of his name. Dr. Daniel Amen. Amen. Yeah. All right. That was stupid. 86 00:08:54,720 --> 00:09:01,600 Okay. So he said he doesn't believe in positive thinking and that immediately sparked my interest. 87 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:05,520 I'm thinking what? You've just given scientific evidence that positive thinking... 88 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:11,680 Thinking....helps you. And he said, I believe in accurate thinking with a positive bent. 89 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:17,360 And this is brilliant because this is something that we do teach. So for example, in one of the 90 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:24,160 courses, we teach memory skills and a lot of people say, oh, I've got a really bad memory for 91 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:28,320 names. And I say, well, the first thing you've got to do if you want to be good at remembering names, 92 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:32,880 because I had a morbid fear of using people's names all throughout my life and went off and 93 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:39,200 studied. And one of the first things you need to do to get better at remembering people's names is 94 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:43,920 to stop saying that you're bad at remembering people's names. Because when you say to somebody, 95 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,280 I'm really bad at remembering names, you're programming your subconscious. Next time you 96 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:50,480 go out and meet somebody, you say, oh, hi, Michelle. Nice to meet you. Your brain goes, 97 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:54,560 what's Michelle? Michelle's a name. What do we know about names? We're no good at names. Oh, 98 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:58,080 forget about Michelle. And you forgot the name within three seconds. Yes. So your subconscious 99 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:04,400 mind will purge their name from your brain because we only remember sounds for three seconds. 100 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,720 Echoic memory is three seconds. And so if you've told your brain that you can't remember something, 101 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:12,080 it will make sure that you can't remember something. Yeah. It abides the instruction 102 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:16,480 you give it. So I say to people, you can't say that, you can't say that anymore. And then somebody 103 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,960 says, well, but you can't just say I'm brilliant at names because I know I'm not. And I said, 104 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:26,080 that's exactly correct. Yeah. You can't just suddenly say, use positive thinking. Oh, 105 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:30,080 I'm very good at names. I'm very good at names. I'm so fast. I'm an Olympian. Yes. I'm fast in the 106 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:38,320 pool. You can't say it because you won't believe it. So what Dr. Daniel Amen was saying is that 107 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:43,360 you should have accurate thinking with a positive bent. And so what, and I love that statement. I'm 108 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:48,560 going to use that forever now. It's basically, so I say to people, don't say that you're bad at 109 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:55,440 remembering names. Say, I used to be bad, factually correct. I used to be bad, but now I'm getting 110 00:10:55,440 --> 00:11:00,960 better because I'm practicing and I will get better and better every day. So that's positive. 111 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,960 I am getting better. I am getting better. Rather than I will get better. Oh, what did I say? I will. 112 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,880 I am. Yeah. No, good, good, good. I am. Cause we're going to make it into the present tense. 113 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,560 So I am getting better and I'm getting better every day because I'm practicing and using 114 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:17,440 techniques. Yeah. And so that's accurate thinking with a positive bent. So this whole positive 115 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:22,320 thinking and the reason, is that a plane going over? It's a helicopter. A helicopter. 116 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:31,040 Right. Only you would recognize it with headphones on in our studio up here in Darwin. So what was 117 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:38,960 I saying? So accurate thinking. Yeah. Accurate thinking with a positive bent is I think the best 118 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:44,880 statement and why I heard all of that pushback about positive thinking is because people didn't 119 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,800 believe what they were trying to convince themselves. Yeah. Similar to affirmations, 120 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:58,080 I suppose. Um, with the positive thinking, yeah, that positive affirmations went, had a, had a bad 121 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:03,280 rap for being woo woo. Well, that was the positive thinking stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And I can understand 122 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:08,240 now what you meant by that because there were positive affirmations that, that people gurus 123 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:14,000 were coming out and saying, and they were unrealistic for most people. Like I want to be tall and 124 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:19,360 they're, you know, they're capped at five foot two and they're 42 years old. They're not going to be 125 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,200 taller. Yeah. Unless they get a Russia and get their legs broken. Yes. That would be painful. 126 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:30,160 But, uh, and you know, I will meet, uh, I, my relationship with my dreams is, you know, 127 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:37,120 is coming to me, but they're a home body who can't leave, you know, whatever. Yeah. So there, 128 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:42,480 there's unrealistic. So it's, it's not accurate. Yeah. So that, yeah, that, that's where I, yeah, 129 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:47,440 I'm sure that all of the resistance that I heard came from the power of positive thinking, but 130 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:52,240 people didn't go deep enough into it to understand what it was all about. So it's what they could 131 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:57,040 believe. Yeah. It's not positive thinking. It's accurate thinking with a positive bent, with a 132 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:03,680 future vision of where you want to get to based on the current reality, not all of a sudden, 133 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:07,840 Hey, I'm brilliant at this. When yesterday you weren't, and you haven't even picked up a book 134 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:14,800 on it or done any research. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But to think that negative thinking changes the 135 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:22,080 structure of your brain. Yeah. There's another aircraft going overhead. That's a plane. What's 136 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:26,560 that one? Is it? Oh, it's probably is seven, three, seven. Okay. Oh, that's what you used to 137 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:37,360 captain Michelle. So if our negative thoughts change the structure of our brain, how do we, 138 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:42,640 how do we get out of it? If we've got a pattern of negative thinking or catching yourself, 139 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:48,160 acknowledging that it's happening and accepting, yeah. And accept it. That's right. And then 140 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:56,240 actively look at changing the script, but in a believable way. So present tense that you are the 141 00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:05,040 positive of that fact. Yeah. So you've got to know and listen to your programming. You're going to 142 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:10,560 know the way you think. And I don't think a lot of it. I'm thinking about thinking. I don't think a 143 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:17,920 lot of people actually take time to think about how they think. They don't listen to their thoughts. 144 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:22,800 Self-awareness. Yeah. Well, it's because yeah, most people think that they are their thoughts 145 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:28,240 instead of the observers of their thoughts, which is something that's very important to me that 146 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:34,960 I spend a lot of time observing my thinking and distancing myself from my thinking because 147 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:39,840 thoughts just come into your mind all the time, don't they? Yeah. Yeah. So who was it? Eckhart 148 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:47,840 Tolle said that thoughts are like clouds that just pass by, you know, and you can either bring them 149 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:55,280 in or let them float by. And I've tried to sit there on the couch and just stop thinking. 150 00:14:55,280 --> 00:15:01,280 It's meditation. It's impossible. It is impossible. And that's the misconception about meditation, 151 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,880 that meditation is stopping thinking. It's not. It's about observing your thinking and then just 152 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:11,280 coming back to a central point, whether it be a breath or something else. Yeah. And the art and 153 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:18,400 the skill of meditation is very powerful because you get to observe the thoughts that are coming 154 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:25,280 in and out of your mind. And then if you are smart enough to do this, you then get to decide 155 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,720 whether that thought is going to help you or hinder you. And if it's going to help you take 156 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:33,360 it on board, if it's going to hinder you, let it go. It doesn't have to be true, but regrettably, 157 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:40,640 not most, a lot of people look at those thoughts and act on them as though they're true, but that 158 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:45,120 thought wasn't even in their head 20 seconds ago. It's just come in, it's floated in from somewhere 159 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:51,600 and now all of a sudden they're acting as though that thought was true. Well, there's another case 160 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:56,880 for the five people that you surround yourself with have the most amount of influence on your 161 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:03,440 thoughts and your actions. So surround yourself with positive people? Or people who are doing 162 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:08,240 what you want to do, what you believe in. So they're actually doing or doing the work. 163 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:15,520 Yeah. But I really like this statement that Dr. Daniel made that he doesn't believe in positive 164 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:20,800 thinking. He believes in accurate thinking with a positive bent. Yeah, I'm going to really 165 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:30,160 start pushing that throughout all my courses and keynotes that that might then reduce the 166 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:35,120 resistance that I've seen built up over the last couple of decades around positive thinking. 167 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:39,600 It's not positive thinking, it's accurate thinking with a positive bent. I like that one, 168 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:46,400 that was good. Awesome. Nice and short. Yes. Oh, 15 minutes. Beuse, Bollinger, where are you? 169 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:53,440 Lindt, come on. We've still got the car wash kid. Okay. See you Michelle. Bye. Well, that was fun. 170 00:16:53,440 --> 00:17:03,040 That was fun. You're such a clown. Lady captain. And who's going to listen to this? Maybe our mums. 171 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,720 Thanks, mum.